Safe personal effects pouches and strap means for under arm or shoulder wear

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a personal effects or money and valuable papers carrying pouch arrangement for wear either under the arms or over the shoulders including novel cross-over strap coupling means which incorporate quick-assembly and quick-release mechanisms for the straps. When worn under the arms the pouches are safe from pickpockets.

United States Patent 1191 Soukeras- Nov. 5, 1974 [54] SAFE PERSONALEFFECTS POUCHES AND 1,182,580 5/1916 Maxfield 1511/7 STRAP MEANS FORUNDER ARM 0R i g Z1332 U es ec SHOULDER WEAR 1,636,925 7/1927Ravigneaux.. [76] Inventor: John E. Soukeras, 440 Heliotrope 1.656351l/l928 Myers St., Corona Del Mar, Calif. 92625 2 /1940 Shaulson.2,432,001 12/1947 Fisler [22] Filed: Apr. 12., 1973 2,979,098 4/1961Greuves pp No 350 409 3,052,891 9/1962 Panepinto Related US ApplicationData Primary Examiner-D0nald A. Griffin [62] Division of Ser. No.116,530, Feb. 18, 1971, Pat. No. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Norman L.Chzrlfin 52 us. 01. 24/74 A, 150/12 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. A44b11/00, A45c 13/26 There 18 disclosed a Personal effects or money and[58] Field of Search 150/7, 12, 13, 15, 35, valuable p p carrying poucharrangement for Wear 150 33; 2 32 323 333 301; 24 1 9 either under thearms or over the shoulders including DIG. 10, 73 LF, 74 A, 197-200, 71,3novel cross-over strap coupling means which incorporate quick-assemblyand quick-release mechanisms for [56] References it the straps. Whenworn under the arms the pouches are UNITED STATES PATENTS SafePwkpockets- 5/1910 Hirsh ..-24/74 A X 3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures SAFEPERSONAL EFFECTS POUCIIES AND STRAP MEANS FOR UNDER ARM OR SHOULDER WEARThis application is a division of US. Pat. application Ser. No. 115,630filed Feb. 18, 1971 and now US. Pat.

No. 3,739,961 issued June 19, I973.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Persons who must travel frequently'carry ontheir persons identification documents such as passports, letters ofcredit, money and the like. It is well-known that there is danger ofhaving ones pockets picked during such travels. It is thereforedesirableto be able to carry ones valuable papers and effects safely on theperson in a manner that would frustrate attempted picking of pockets ThePresent Invention permit the straps. to be assembled or disassembledquickly for either use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGURES FIG. I is a perspective view of anindividual from the back of his person showing the under-the-arm form ofuse of the invention with one form of cross-over connection means forthe supporting straps;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an individual wearing one of the pouchesof the invention separated from the other with the over-the-shoulderform of its use;

FIG. 3 is a detail of one form of cross-over connection means differentfrom that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detail of another form of cross-over connection means forthe use of the invention wherein a bent wire configuration permitseasily assembling and disassembling the straps for the respective usesof the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a detail of a variant of the form of cross-over connectionmeans for the straps of the invention shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a slotted variant of the cross-over device for the supportingstraps of the invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a further variant of the cross-over device shown in FIG. 6;and

FIG. 8 is a detail of a simplified form of the loops of the bent-wirecross-over devices shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGURES As has been pointed out previouslythe invention consists of a pair of pouches shown generally in FIG. 1

at 10, and 12, or as shown also in FIG. 2 at 14. The articles shown at10 and 12 include zipper closures as shown at 11 while that at 14 hassnap fasteners as shown at 15. The fasteners 15 or zipper 11 are ofknown configuration and are used to hold down the flaps I3, or 16 totheir respective pouches l0, 12 or 14. Each pouch such as either l0, 12,or 14 is equipped with a pair of connecting buckles such as at 19 or 20fixedly attached to the respective pouches as at 10, 12 or I4 where thebuckles 19 or 20 are visible.

There are two configurations of the straps l7, 18 or 31 which areillustrated in the figures. In FIG. 1 straps l7, l8 'cross-overso thatone end of strap 17 is connected to one of the buckle 19 on pouch 10visible at the left of the figure and the other end of strap 17 isconnected to one of the buckles 19 on the pouch 12 at a pointobscured'by the right arm of the wearer in the FIG. 1. Similarly strapl8is visible connected to the other of the buckles 19 on pouch I2 andobscured by the left side of the wearer as seen in FIG. I, where it isconnected to the other buckle 19 of pouch 10. The straps 17 and 18crossover at the wearer's back as at 21 where they pass through thecoupling device.

Coupling device as shown at 21 consists of a round patch of materialwhich may be leather or plastic with slits 22 and 24 diposed near theperiphery of the patch on diagonal lines such that straps l7 and 18 maybe slid through the patch via these slits in opposite directions to makethe cross-over connections between pouches l2 and 10 as above described.

A more complex coupling device is shown in FIG. 3 wherein a pair ofx-shaped strips of material such as 26 and 28 are sewn together 'bytheir juxtaposed peripheries as at 25 and 27 but not at the ends 29 and30 which are left open to receive the straps l7 and 18 in diagonallyopposite directions as illustrated.

The cross-over strap receiving device 21 of FIG. 1

and the cross-over strap receiving device of FIG. 3 each requires thatthe straps must be threaded through the slots 29, 30 (FIG. 3) or theslits 22, 24 (FIG. 1).

An alternative mechanism is the subject of the crossover strap receivingdevices shown in FIGS. 4-8 inclusive. Each of the devices illustrated inFIGS. 4-8 permits the straps l7, 18 to be slid into place in thecrossover configuration in a simple sliding and twist action. This isexemplified by the location of strap 17 woven under loops 52 and 46 inthe cross-over holding element 40 of FIG. 4 and the strap 18 woven underloops 42 and 49 of article 40. Note -that in order to position strap 18for example under loops 42 and 49 the strap must be rotated under loop42 from the left towards loops 41 and 43 and under loop 49 from theright towards loops 47 and 48. Similarly strap 17 must be rotated intoplace under loops 46 and 52, approaching 52 from below and 46 fromabove. The rotative action is illustrated by arrows x and y in FIGS. 4and 6.

The cross-over coupling article which is shown in FIG. 4 is generallycircular with loops 36, 37, 38, 39 in in-bending from points on quadrantlines of the circle formed by device 40. The loops 36-39 are eachfollowed by respective continuation loops 41-43, 44-46, 47-49, and 50-52each forming a sinuous sequence from the starting loops at the quadrantpoints of the circle. At the termination of each sinuous sequence ofloops the end returns to the circle periphery forming a continuum ofwire to create the cross-over clip 40.

In FIG. 5 a similar quadrant array of sinuous loops is formed incross-over clip which has a hooked cross configuration.

The clip 60 differs from clip 40 in that instead of a new loop beingformed in the sinuous sequence as at 43, 45, 48, 51 (FIG. 4) the sinuousloop terminal ends as may be seen typically at 54, 55-56, 57 and theircontinuations, bending over one another at the center 53 to form alocked X" configuration with the ends of the X" at all four points bengbent over into the sinuous loops including loops 61, 62 63 and 64 givena rectangular completed appearance.

The clip 60 is used for cross-over coupling of the straps l7, 18 in thesame manner as that described for FIG. 4.

The clips 40 and 60 are wire formed articles.

Another type of cross-over coupling device can be fabricated fromplastic or stiff fabric, like buckram, or pasteboard. Such devices areillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, at 70 and 71.

In FIG. 6 cutouts 75a-d are provided with tongue extensions extendinginto the cutouts as at 73a-d. Each tongue has a half circle at the freeend with its radius about equal the width of the tongue. The halfcircles 74a-d act as stops when the straps l7, 18 are inserted in thesame twisting manner described in connection with the use of the clips40 and 60. The cutouts are generally on slightly offset diagonal linessymmetrical about the center of the clip 70, with the tongues opposed indirection at each end of the diagonals.

The clip 71 is similar to clip 70 in that there are generallyrectangular cutouts 77a-d on the offset diagonal positions near theperiphery of the circle of clip 71. A cut as at 76 a-d is made from theperiphery of the circle to the inner line of the cutout so that thestraps may be slipped into the cuts 76a-d with the same twisting motionpreviously described. A central cutout 72 with tongue and hemispherichead 79, 78 similar to the cutout and tongues of FIG. 6 may be used inthe center of clip 71 as an additional securing guide for one of thestraps. As illustrated, strap 17 is passed through cutout 72 undertongue 79 to be held against slippage.

A further embodiment of a technique for holding the straps in the samemanner as above described is suggested by the illustration in FIG. 8where a sardine can twist key handle type of end 85, 86 on a bar 84 canbe made to extend on the four quadrant points of the circle 80 to form asimilar sequence of four slots as formed by loops 85, 86. The strap 17is indicated as it would pass through the loops on opposite side bars 82and 84. Similarly strap 18, not shown, would pass through similar loops(not shown) extending from bars 81 and 83.

It should be clear from the above that a pair of pouches such as 10 and12 with straps such as 17 and 18 can be assembled together with clipssuch as 40, or

60 or, 70, or 71 or that shown in partial form in FIG. 8 so that thestraps cross-over to permit the pouches to be worn under ones armsbeneath ones clothing. That they may be disconnected quickly forindividual overthe-shoulder wear should be self-evident in that thestraps 17, 18 can be twisted in the direction opposite from thedirection shown by arrows x and y (FIGS. 4 and 6) to be removed from theclips.

Using the cross over guide items 21 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 permit equallyrapid assembly and dissassembly for the alternative under arm or overthe shoulder use by slipping the straps through the slots of FIG. 1 orguides of FIG. 2 in or out as needed.

There has been described hereinabove an arrangement of pouches andstraps including clips and other devices to permit the straps to beconnected together in a cross-over configuration such that the pouchesmay be worn under the arms beneath ones clothing for protective carryingof valuables and important documents. The clips are separable from thestraps readily so that the pouches may be quickly dissassembled and wornas separate pouches over the shoulder. Separating the straps from theclipswhich hold them in the crossover configuration is accomplished byslipping the straps out of them. Two modes of removal are involved. Oneis a twist and remove action from clips as exemplitied in FIG. 4 through8 and the other is the slipping of straps in or out of slots or slitsand exemplified in FIGS. 1-3 inclusive.

What is claimed is new is:

1. A cross-over clip for assembling straps in a crisscross configurationremovably:

said clip comprising an array of bent loops disposed on each of fourquadrant lines, loops on opposite ends of said clip being oppositelydirected to form receiving guides for straps to be inserted therin in atwisting motion.

2. The clip defined in claim 1 wherein said loops are formed from wireand having a circular configuration with said loops on oppositediagonals of said circular configuration.

3. The clip defined in claim 1 wherein said loops are formed from wireforming a hooked cross configuration with said bent loops disposed inthe center of the sides of a rectangle.

1. A cross-over clip for assembling straps in a criss-crossconfiguration removably: said clip comprising an array of bent loopsdisposed on each of four quadrant lines, loops on opposite ends of saidclip being oppositely directed to form receiving guides for straps to beinserted therin in a twisting motion.
 2. The clip defined in claim 1wherein said loops are formed from wire and having a circularconfiguration with said loops on opposite diagonals of said circularconfiguration.
 3. The clip defined in claim 1 wherein said loops areformed from wire forming a hooked cross configuration with said bentloops disposed in the center of the sides of a rectangle.